Partners
by kathleenfergie
Summary: Agent Will Van de Kamp of the FBI along with his partner, Clare McKay, are part of a deemed unsolvable case involving kidnapping and impregnation of women. What happens when Will stumbles upon the basement office one day? After reading the files, he believes Scully and Mulder can help him solve the case, but he finds one in particular that catches his eye. Who is William Scully?
1. Chapter 1: Introductions

Okay. So, here is my second attempt to write my previously named fic Kamp and McKay. I changed the title because it was shit, and the story itself had some flaws. It took me almost a week, but I now have the entire story planned out on paper, with each chapter having a summary. I plan to have 24 chapters with an epilogue, which doesn't seem like a lot, but I'll try and make the chapters as long as I can. For now it will be rated T for swearing and possible violence, but the rating may change in the future (if you're picking up what I'm laying down).

While this story does circulate around Will (William) finding the X-Files office and discovering Scully and Mulder are his parents, I've written it to be more focused on the relationship between Will and his partner Clare. I'll probably only ever refer to Will as Will because it's about him, but I'll be going in between Clare and McKay for her, because Will views her in both a formal and informal way. It's set roughly thirty years from the end of the show in 2001. This puts Scully and Mulder in their sixties; Will is 31 and Clare is 30. Skinner is now the Deputy Director of the bureau, and he's in his seventies. I don't know the age restriction for DD of the FBI so just roll with it. Even though it's set twenty years from where we are technologically in the world, I don't want to write about gadgets and gizmos, so mostly cell phones will be mentioned as being advanced or something. I may write in some medical discoveries too. We'll see. And yeah I know the title's shit, so you don't have to tell me.

This chapter is mainly just introducing the characters and the case they are working on. I hope you enjoy. As always, I hold no claim to recognizable characters, only my own original ones. Here we go, kids.

* * *

_Chapter One – Introductions _

Will didn't like listening to case briefings. He didn't like sitting in the dark for half an hour while a guy in a suit rattled on about this or that kidnapping. Especially if the case had been going on for eight months, like this one had. It was the biggest case in America at the moment, seeing as it had gone unsolved for such a long time. The FBI was taking a lot of criticism for their failure in solving the case, and it frustrated Will to know end that he was a part of it.

Special Agent William Van de Kamp of the FBI hated the Violent Crimes Unit. He never knew why he chose to work in it instead of going with his original plan of teaching forensic pathology at Quantico. However, after the bureau begged him to join them for his keen abilities in profiling, he didn't refuse their offer. Will refused to quit, though. He found that profiling suited him better than cutting up corpses for a living. He never did autopsies, and his medical degree only came up when someone was injured or he was able to use his medical knowledge.

At the moment, Will thought, he'd rather be teaching a seminar on sawing through a scull than listening to a profile he'd heard a million times. One he'd come up with, in fact. He'd given up listening in favour of tapping his pencil against a manila folder, which in turn caused his partner to cast irritated glares from beside him.

Clare McKay, Will's partner, became annoyed easily. Not only by Will, but by people and life in general. She was a no-nonsense kind of woman and she didn't take shit from anyone. Especially Will, who tended to irk her on purpose just to get a rise out of her. He tended to be a jerk to her when he was bored and it made McKay want to shoot him. She'd come close once, but her safety had fortunately been on.

'Kamp,' she hissed. He took the warning and stilled his pencil. McKay had found that his last name was too long to say if she was aggravated or needed assistance, so she shortened it to Kamp after their first month together as partners. After two years, he'd gotten used to it and accepted it from any other agent who was too lazy to say his full name. It had felt strange having a partner after a year alone in the VCU, but McKay had grown on him and he actually genuinely liked her.

She also wasn't hard on the eyes, which helped. Will couldn't help being male and noticing her lovely attributes. Clare was a light blonde, brown-eyed, curvy, and she was dusted with freckles everywhere. Though she tried to hide her freckles with make-up, Will could always notice them through it and found that they made her look younger. He himself had an arsenal of freckles after growing up working out in the sun on his family's farm. One agent had once called them the 'speckle twins.' Will's response had been punching them in the gut. Deputy Director Skinner hadn't been pleased. Skinner was hardly ever pleased with Will, so it came as no surprise.

Lost in his thoughts, Will hadn't noticed that Agent Graham (the agent in charge) had called on him for the profile. Will stood awkwardly, talked for five minutes, and sat back down. Graham and Stonewall were heading the investigation, and often used Will to explain the profile because they themselves didn't quite understand it.

The case was definitely a tricky one. In the past eight months, seven women from across the country had been kidnapped by a man or even a cult led by a strong leader. The women had all been held for two weeks, long enough for any damages to heal, and each one had been raped and impregnated. No trace evidence was able to be found on any of the victims, leaving the FBI stumbling around looking for answers. Each one couldn't remember any details of their kidnapping, only small insignificant ones like colours or noises. A handful of the women had tried to terminate the pregnancies, but were unsuccessful.

The reason the team had been gathered again was that not only had another woman been kidnapped and returned, but another had given birth. Melanie Summers, 24, had been the first victim and she had recently gone into labour prematurely. The FBI had been told that the baby was born still due to complications in the pregnancy.

For a reason that Will couldn't fathom, he and McKay were to go down to Dallas, where she lived, and interview her again about her experience during her kidnapping. He didn't understand why the FBI wanted them to go talk to a woman who probably wouldn't be able to remember the events of her imprisonment, an event that happened eight months ago. He understood that they were to ask about the pregnancy and the birth, but he found it pointless to ask her about her traumatic experience. Will kept his mouth shut like a good agent, however, and took his assignment.

After what seemed like a lifetime, the meeting was over and Will and Clare were able to leave the stuffy briefing room. Before they were able to leave for Dallas, however, they had to go down to the evidence locker and bring up the box on Melanie Summers. Looking at McKay, Will sighed.

'I swear, Graham makes me sit through those things because he hates that I'm a better profiler than he is,' Will said begrudgingly, grabbing his keys.

'While that may be true, Kamp, he makes you sit there because he knows he can't deliver the profile the way that you can. You may not believe it, but you are a big part of this investigation,' McKay said tiredly. She herself did not like sitting in those uncomfortable chairs for more than she needed to. She was also slightly aggravated with her partner and his attitude toward the very serious case they were a part of. While she valued Will as her partner, she found herself easily annoyed by his stand-offish attitude about cases. Brushing off her irritation, she asked if she should come with him to the evidence locker.

'Might as well. Lord knows I get lost in that place,' he said. Despite herself, McKay smiled.

They made their way down, riding the elevator all the way to the dingy basement of the Hoover building. The evidence locker was in the most inconvenient place, buried under the building next to all the maintenance rooms. Will had complained on several occasions about its placement but had been shut down each time.

Walking down the hallway towards it, Will noticed another hallway that wasn't lit. Though it must have always been there, this had been the first time he seriously took notice of it. It was a short hallway with a door that bore no nameplate at the end of it. He stopped and looked quizzically at it.

'Say, Clarice, what you think is behind that door?' McKay rolled her eyes at his use of the nickname and followed his eyes to the dusty door.

'It's probably just an old janitor's closet, Kamp. What else you expect down here?' She started to move again, and he followed, his eyes flicking back to the dark hallway as they walked. It seemed out of place to him and he wondered why he had never noticed that fact before.

* * *

After sifting through countless other boxes pertaining to their case, the two agents had found Melanie Summers' box and gone back to their desks to pour over its contents. While they remembered the general outline of the case, the partners had not been the first on the team and did not have the chance to interview Melanie after she had been found. They became acquainted with her statement and set out to their homes to pack for their trip to Dallas.

'You want me to pick you up?' Will asked Clare as they exited the Hoover building. She shook her head and almost blushed when she answered.

'Jamie's driving me, actually. He wanted to wish me luck or something like that,' she said, an embarrassed tone leaking into her voice. McKay was not ashamed that of her boyfriend, James Davenport, but she found some of his antics to be a bit overbearing. She also knew that her partner held an astute distaste for him, though she never knew why.

'Fabulous,' Will sneered as he got into his car.

It was not a secret that Will disliked Agent James Davenport. Will found him to be overprotective around McKay and sometimes even a little controlling. He couldn't see why his partner fancied the man so much, but in order for their partnership to work, Will was required to keep his mouth shut about _Jamie. _He and Clare had been seeing each other for almost a year, leaving the hope Will held that they wouldn't work out to slowly die. He didn't wish pain on his partner; he just strongly disliked her choice of significant other.

The plane ride had been painless, thankfully, and the two agents were now sitting in a rental car, driving towards the rural area that Melanie Summers lived in. McKay was driving, a Top 40s station blasting out of the sound system. Will had a pair of sunglasses on as the low Texan afternoon sun beat down on his face, no doubt causing the freckles he already had to darken. The window was open, sending a cool breeze through his dark brown hair.

McKay hummed along to a song that filtered out of the stereo and Will curled his lip. The way the two worked was that when one of them was in charge of something, the other did not question or complain. Ergo, the one driving picked the music and the passenger had to shut his trap even if they loathed it. Will would usually get his revenge for the Top 40 nonsense by playing opera stations. It wasn't that he enjoyed them; it was that he knew his partner did _not_.

As they turned into a village of houses, Will noticed how plain they all looked. While they were different in size, shape, and colour, not one house stood out against the others. He noted that this could mean that Melanie didn't strive for attention. He knew she had lived here before her kidnapping, so that wasn't what influenced her living decisions. After parking themselves on the curb of her driveway, McKay turned to Will.

'I read that she's rather jumpy, so try not to put on your commanding _G-Man _voice,' she requested. Will narrowed his eyes at the comment and got out of the car. He never thought of himself as commanding in his interviews, but then again he was usually in a bad mood when arriving on a crime scene. He nodded to his partner and knocked softly on the door.

After hearing the clicks of numerous locks, the door opened to reveal a small red headed woman. Melanie Summers was thin and she looked exhausted. She ushered the agents in and they all sat on the couch. Will started in on his questions.

'Now, Miss Summers,' Will noticed her flinch at the use of her last name. 'We've come to ask you some more questions about the event that took place eight months ago. We know that in your previous statement you said that you can't recall anything, but have you been able to remember anything since then?' She hesitated before answering and rubbed her hands together.

'Mostly all I can remember is the colour white. Not a soft white, but a harsh one, like it was always being lit up by a bright light. I remembered the colour white and a voice. His voice,' She shivered at the memory and continued. 'I can only hear my name when I dream of him. All I can hear is him whispering _Miss Summers _and then the rest is mumbled. He doesn't have a strange voice, he sounds just like a normal person. I can't see his face in any of my memories.'

'Thank you, Melanie,' McKay said. 'Do you recall any of the pain that was inflicted on you?'

'No. Nothing. The hospitals told me that I had freshly healed wounds but I couldn't feel them. I don't remember him…torturing me, if that's what you want to call it. I don't even remember the rape.' She said the last part quietly, her voice shaking. 'I woke up in a hospital with a bunch of doctors telling me I'd been kidnapped and raped and that I was pregnant. I didn't even believe it until the first ultrasound. I don't understand why he didn't kill me. Why didn't he? Why go through all the trouble of hurting me and healing me?' She asked her questions frantically, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

'We believe, Melanie, that he did not wish to cause harm. His plan was to leave you with his child. That was his end goal,' Will explained to her. She flinched when he talked about the baby. He took that as his cue to leave. He had asked Clare to take care of asking about the birth, not because of his own discomfort, but because he assumed Melanie was not comfortable with men in general, and talking about a very female oriented issue would go better if discussed with his partner.

Leaning against the car, Will made a call to Agent Graham to relay what Melanie had said. While Will knew it didn't help much, he was still obligated to tell the SAC everything. Graham was so intent on solving the case that if he didn't develop an ulcer by the end of it, Will and everyone else would be surprised.

He looked up as he heard McKay exit the house, with Melanie closing the door, and no doubt locking it, behind her. The look on his partner's face was a solemn one. She often was very empathetic towards victims, something she was not supposed to do. In the FBI, they trained you to distance yourself from the cases and the victims, and with particular victims, Clare had trouble doing just that. After witnessing her break down because of a case, he had asked her to see a bureau therapist, which she now did frequently. He recognized her solemn look to be one where she was putting herself in Melanie's position.

'Clare,' he said.

'Don't start, Kamp. I'm fine. I'm just wondering about something.' Will raised an eyebrow as he got into the driver's side of the car. 'She told me that when the baby was born, she wasn't given the chance to see it, that the doctor told her she wasn't allowed to see her child. Usually they give mothers of stillborns a choice, do they not?' She asked him.

'Yes, they usually do. I can't see a doctor refusing a mother that right, it seems strange. He or she could have made a mistake and forgot to ask Melanie whether or not she would like to see the baby. I'll call Graham when we get to the motel. It's probably too late to interview the doctor. So many children are born each day; a number of them could have been stillborns.'

McKay nodded and was silent for the rest of the ride. He could see the cogs in her head turning. When they pulled into a motel parking lot, Will killed the engine and turned to her. 'I know you want to ask me something, McKay, so just ask it.' She sighed heavily.

'It's kind of a personal question, and somewhat unrelated.' He urged her to continue. 'Do you want kids, Will?' He was surprised, it wasn't what he was expecting, although he hadn't known what to expect.

'Um, at the moment I'd have to say no. I don't oppose the idea of children, but seeing as I'm not with anybody at the moment and I have a very high stress job, children would probably not be a good idea. Although, I've always lived by the belief that if it happens, it happens, and to not try and stop it.' Clare was examining his answer, nodding. 'You?'

'Yes, I think that one day I'd like them. I don't know if it'll be with Jamie, because he's never discussed that deep of a relationship with me, but I can see myself wanting them at one point,' she worried her bottom lip as she opened the car door, signaling the end of their conversation. Will sighed quietly and exited the car to go book their rooms, his partner staying quiet beside him.

When they were given rooms, he wished her a good night and entered. After calling Graham, he ordered a pizza and then fell asleep to the TV, all the while pondering the strangeness of the McKay's question.

* * *

Alright, hopefully you liked that. I plan to have more up next week or even by the weekend, but don't keep your hopes up.

SAC – Special Agent in Charge.


	2. Chapter 2: Shadows

Alright, so here's chapter two. Two chapters in two days, it's like I'm spoiling you, and I've even started the third. You'll get some case and some X-Files talk, along with more interaction between Will and Clare. I don't really have a set update time, but just have faith that it will be slightly regular. If you follow me on tumblr you'll be able to see me frustratingly blog about writing this fic. Enjoy.

I own nothing. Sigh.

* * *

_Chapter Two – Shadows _

A week later, after drinking around three coffees to make himself feel some sense of awareness, Will found himself sitting at his desk, McKay behind him. He was filling out paperwork to justify why they flew down to Dallas, and Will was using his extensive bullshitting skills to fill out the form. Usually he was the one who wrote case reports and filled out other paperwork because his penmanship was much neater than his partner's hurried cursive scrawl. And she always complained when he tried to ask her to write them.

He handed her the folder for her to sign, and she did so, but not without reading his comments about the interview. She pursed her lips at some of his comments about Melanie. He sighed, knowing she would bring it up anyway.

'Have I done something wrong, McKay?' He asked, the annoyance clear in his voice.

'You make Melanie seem like she's hiding something or at least that's what I'm getting from your report. To me she just looked like a woman who'd be thrown under the bus too many times,' she told him. He didn't like people criticizing him, his profiles, or his damn reports. Especially the person refused to write said reports.

'Would you like me to change it?'

She glanced up and saw his expression and rolled her eyes. She handed the folder back and continued on in her work. While they often got into debate over things, they most often tried not to get mad at each other and avoided confrontation. It made them work.

'I still think you're wrong about her.' She said quietly. He nodded silently and turned back to his own desk.

After finishing his reports, Will got up and carried them over to Graham, who seemed to be in a very important phone conversation. Planning to drop the folders and leave, Will was surprised to see Graham hold up a finger, asking him to wait. He watched as Graham said a few more gruff words into the phone before forcibly hanging it up. He huffed and looked up at Will.

'That was the bureau down in Salt Lake City. They just informed me that the second victim, Danielle Smith, gave birth yesterday. It was also premature and the baby was born still as well.' Graham's brow furrowed. 'Does this guy have some kind of messed up DNA that would cause the mothers to miscarry?' He let out an exasperated sigh and stared up at Will expectantly for an answer.

'It's possible. If the ME did an autopsy of the foetus, they would most likely find something,' Will suggested. He prayed that Graham wouldn't send him down there to do the autopsy himself, but it had happened a few times before. 'Did they ask the victim if there was anything that stood out during her pregnancy?'

'They did and the answer was no. Like Melanie Summers, she said that everything was progressing normally until the seventh month. And we can't compare it to any of the other women because they're all in different trimesters, whereas Melanie and Danielle were both taken in the same month.' He rubbed a hand down his face and inhaled heavily. 'This case is going to be the death of me.'

'Was Danielle able to recall anything from her abduction?' Graham snorted and Will gave him a questioning look.

'Abduction, what a perfect word to use.'

Will was still confused and pressed on. 'I'm not sure I know what you mean, sir.'

'Danielle Smith has some strange belief that she was abducted by aliens, who then put an alien child inside of her. The Utah boys brushed it off though, because she couldn't actually remember any of the events leading up to or during her disappearance. It's all very frustrating. We've interviewed each victim more than once and all they can come up with is the colour white. This is the hardest case I've been on in my whole career, and I've been here for more than twenty years.' The look on Graham's face told Will that it was his cue to leave and he started to do so, but stopped when he remembered something.

'Did the victim say anything about being able to see the child after it was born? I don't know if you remember me telling you this, but Melanie Summers said that the doctor gave her no choice and that they took it away before she could see it,' Will explained this to Graham, who continued to look perplexed at the nature of his question.

'There wasn't any mention of it, no. Van de Kamp, you better not be suggesting that hospitals in both Utah and Texas are in on this plot, because if I have to tell Skinner that he'll most likely fire me.' He shook his head at the younger agent and waved him off. 'Go look into the two doctors and see if anything pops out. I have to cleanse my head of the idea of aliens.' Graham got up from his desk and left Will to his own devices.

_Aliens_. Will laughed internally.

* * *

On what would be his fourth coffee break of the day, Will made his way to the lounge that housed a numerous amount of coffee makers, vending machines, and one water cooler that a handful of agents frequented and spread bureau news at. The stories they wove made Will roll his eyes. Walking into the lounge, he spotted an agent by the name of Harrison talking to couple of new agents, no doubt telling them tales of the Hoover building.

He walked over to the fullest coffee pot and poured some into his FBI labelled mug. Forgoing milk and sugar, he came to stand next to Harrison, sipping his coffee and nodding at the other agent as he told the other two rumours.

'Who is Skinner banging this week, Harrison?' Will asked jokingly. Harrison's favourite victim happened to be their Deputy Director, and Will was surprised the agent hadn't been fired for the many things he spread about Walter Skinner. Harrison chuckled and gave Will a smirk.

'Well, Kamp, he and his secretary have seemed a little close in the last month, wouldn't you say?' He played along.

'Isn't she married?'

'Well yeah, but is that going to stand in the way? Obviously not.' Will grinned and looked up at the two gobsmacked agents over the rim of his mug. 'I was just telling these boys here about your lovely partner, in fact.' Will's smile dropped a bit at the mention of McKay. He knew that most every man in the office who wasn't married or blind found his partner to be attractive. Harrison in particular tended to make one too many comments about her, which bothered Will. 'Too bad about the boyfriend though, always thought him to be kind of a dick.'

'You and me both, my friend,' Will replied. The two younger agents made up an excuse to leave and quickly did so, leaving Will alone with Harrison.

Knowing that Harrison knew pretty much everything about everything in the bureau rumour-wise, the thought to ask him about the dingy basement hallway sprung to his mind.

'Say, Harrison, you know anything about the one door in the basement that doesn't have a label? It's just before the evidence locker, down the unlit hallway.' Saying it out loud made it sound like a terrible horror movie and Will tried to hide his discomfort. 'I noticed it for the first time last week and haven't had the chance to ask anyone else.'

'Well naturally, I'm flattered. In fact, I do know a little thing about that door,' he said, a smile flashing across his face. 'My mom actually has a bunch of stories about it, funny enough. When she worked at the bureau just before I was born, there were a handful of agents who worked from that office. I can't remember their names, but they dealt with all kinds of paranormal cases. Two of them were only on the team for two years, but the other two had headed the department for seven years. My mom was sort of obsessed with them, that she knew every little detail about every case they worked on and was a part of a few of their investigations.'

'Why isn't the department still in use?' Will asked. He was more than intrigued.

'Well, the two agents were rumoured to have gone rogue. One of them had killed a military official and his partner, she broke him out of prison. They were on an FBI hit list for six years, but in 2008 charges were dropped because they helped the FBI solve a really big case. No one's heard of them since then.' Harrison paused, letting Will take in the information before continuing. 'The FBI closed off that office because the two agents were conspiring against the government. They believed that the government was working with aliens to create, like, super humans or something.'

'Aliens? Really?' Will laughed.

'Yeah, man, I know. Sometimes I think my mom is just getting old when she tells me stuff like that. Anywho, if that is all true, that office's been left untouched for a good thirty years.' Harrison shrugged and disposed of the paper cup he was using to drink from. 'If it's any consolation, they probably cleared it out after the agents went missing. It's not like there would be anything worth looking at down there. Catch you later, Kamp.' Will nodded to him and sipped his coffee pensively.

After a few moments of thinking and drinking his coffee, he refilled his mug to the brim and exited the lounge. He failed to notice, however, another set of eyes watching him as he rounded the corner, making his way back to his desk.

He had been looking into the two doctors, who both had clean records if not for a few speeding tickets. He concluded that the two mothers could have misinterpreted the doctor's words, but he wasn't quite sure. He left that idea for later, though.

* * *

Later, after many hours of unending boredom, Will received a call at his desk. It was from Skinner's secretary. Apparently the Deputy Director required Will's presence in his office ASAP. Riding the elevator up to the DD's office, Will wondered what Skinner could possibly want from him.

When he got there, Skinner's secretary ushered Will into the office, where he sat down in front of his superior. The meeting was uneventful at best, Skinner simply asked him for a progress report on the case he was working. It wasn't until Will thought was the end of the meeting that Skinner surprised him.

'I've heard, Agent Van de Kamp, that you've taken an interest into a particular office in the basement. Is this true?' Skinner asked, leaning back in his chair. Will was perplexed, he wasn't expecting that question. The only people he could think of that knew of his curiosity would be McKay and Harrison, and he didn't expect either of them to report it to Skinner, not that there was anything to report.

'Uh, I'm not quite sure what you mean, sir.'

'I'd like you to forget about what you think you saw down there. The door leads to an old maintenance closet from the old building. You have more important tasks at hand than listening to ghost stories. Focus on your case at hand, agent. You wouldn't want it to slip through your fingers. You're dismissed.' Skinner looked down at his desk, signalling Will to leave.

As he exited Skinner's office, his brain wracked at the Director's words.

He entered the elevator and looked forward. Just as the doors closed, his eyes met those of James Davenport, who had been watching Will rather intently. Will scowled just as the elevator doors met and his descent began.

There was the possibility that McKay had told her boyfriend about Will's interest in the dark hallway, but he couldn't see it coming up in any of their conversations. He didn't think _Jamie _to be one who wanted to talk to McKay about her partner. The two had a mutual dislike of the other, which led to either man being left out of the current conversation. He avoided talking to McKay about James and he assumed James did the same.

When he found his way back to his desk, McKay looked up at him.

'You okay? What'd Skinner want?' She asked, needing a distraction.

'Mostly just for to tell him our progress, or lack thereof. He also warned me to stay away from the door that I asked you about last week when we went down to evidence. Apparently a little bird tipped him off that I was interested in it,' Will looked at his partner expectantly, who's face gave away nothing.

'It wasn't me if that's what you're asking, Kamp,' she told him. He nodded, sighing. 'You sure you're okay?'

Will nodded.

'Yeah, I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me, Clarice.' He used his nickname for her to lighten the mood.

'Whatever, Kamp,' she said, shaking her head at him. 'Find anything on the doctors?'

'Natta. They're clean. Must have been a mix up. Or two mix ups, rather,' he added as an afterthought.

The two were silent from there on. It was nearing the end of their work day, and Will asked Clare if she'd grab dinner with him. She agreed and they headed out to a restaurant. It was a pleasant evening for the both of them.

* * *

Alright, so there's two. Can you guess who Harrison's mom is?

Send me some love, my friends. Mostly I just want your feedback so I know that I'm doing things right and whether or not I should change characters flaws. TALK TO ME, BABY. See you next time.


	3. Chapter 3: Questions

Well, here is the troisième chapter. If you're wondering if Skinner knows who Will is, then the answer is yeahbro. Besides the fact that I've imagined Will as like the perfect combo between Mulder and Scully, I have this headcanon that Skinner just always kind of protected Will's identity and location when he was a kid, so Skinner has pretty much watched over him forever. Oh, and Harrison's mom is Leyla Harrison from season 8/9, and I feel like his dad is that guy who showed up with the dead cat but he didn't stick around long enough for when Harrison was born, but that's me going on a creative tangent. He might show up a little more in the future. Also, I'll mostly refer to Jamie as Davenport, but he'll be _Jamie _whenever Will internally bitches about him. Enjoy.

I own nothing. All I have is Clare and co. which is pretty bitchin' anyway. I feel like this story is only rated T because of how much swearing _I _do. Anywho, carry on.

* * *

_Chapter Three - Questions_

Will had been thinking lately about both Harrison and Skinner's words. He was having trouble deciding which one seemed more plausible, if you could believe it. While the idea of the FBI researching aliens made Will laugh, he wondered why Skinner would go to the trouble of warning him away from the basement office. It made him even more curious to find out the truth behind the door.

He was afraid, however, that somebody might be watching him closely after his meeting with the DD. After finding Davenport staring at him through the elevator doors, Will found himself being cautious in what he said and did. Will didn't have many enemies in the department, but that didn't mean he had many friends.

Will had the intense desire to jimmy the lock with his picks and see what was on the other side, but he knew he wouldn't be able to it alone, not with a set of eyes constantly watching him. He wondered if he could convince Harrison to help him, but the other agent only dealt in tall tales and jests, and when faced with serious situations panicked. Harrison wasn't a field agent because he was jittery when he was in the field, which made him unable to shoot straight. The bureau had learned that the hard way, so he was now confined to mostly monitoring case files, etc. Will suspected that his behaviour out in the field could translate to sneaking around _inside _the bureau, and he imagined that Harrison wasn't quite good at lying on the spot.

Deciding that it was better to forgo his friend, Will tried to think of other agents he was close enough to that they would help him break and enter.

After some contemplation, the only person he could come up with was Clare. Although his partner did like to stick to rules and regulations as often as she could, Will knew she had a mischievous side to her. Though, there was always the possibility that Davenport would find out and Will would be in deep shit than he already was.

He'd been standing in the coffee lounge for quite some time, sipping his coffee and contemplating his options. As he walked back to his desk, he noticed Clare immersed in a case file of some sort. Her brow was furrowed and she was twiddling with a pencil, stopping every once and a while to bite the end of it. It somehow made her look younger to him, and he grinned. Although he didn't want to break her concentration, he wanted to get the breaking and entering business over and done with as soon as possible.

Knowing that she wouldn't notice him, Will walked around her desk so that he was behind her ear and leaned in close.

'What do you say about causing a little mischief, Clarice?' At his quiet question, McKay jumped and had to hold in a yelp of surprise. She looked around to make sure no one else had noticed her small squeak as Will silently laughed behind her, hiding his smile behind his coffee cup.

'Jesus Christ, Kamp!' She exclaimed, swatting at him. 'Why can't you address me normally like everyone else?'

'Well, that's because I know this method will actually get your attention, my dear Clarice,' he told her sarcastically, sitting against her desk.

'Stop calling me that, you ass,' she scowled at his second use of her nickname and pursed her lips at his disregard of her work space. After giving him his shortened last name early in their partnership, Will had come up with his own version of her name. Besides the twist on her name, Clare felt she had nothing in common with the fictional Clarice Starling, and it made her partner even more confusing to her. 'Now what's this talk of _mischief_?' She asked, leaning back in her chair and looking up at him skeptically. He leaned in closer and kept his hushed tone.

'You aren't opposed to breaking and entering, are you, McKay?'

Cocking an eyebrow, she urged him to continue.

'Remember that door I asked you about when we went down to grab Melanie Summers' evidence box?' She nodded, still not catching onto what he was telling her. 'Well, what do you say we take a little look behind the door? I know that you need a break from these files and the door has been nagging my brain for a good two weeks. It couldn't hurt.' Will could see the cogs in her head turning as she contemplated her options. She worried her bottom lip and sighed. 'Come on, you don't even have to do the breaking. All I need is a good lookout.'

She scowled again at being labelled the 'lookout,' but she flitted her eyes about, looking for any superiors before she answered. 'Christ, Kamp, you should've become a lawyer,' she muttered and stood up from her chair, shuffling papers together to make her desk somewhat presentable. 'We're gone no longer than twenty minutes, you here me? Twenty minutes.'

He grinned like cat who got the cream and nodded.

* * *

'Kamp, I thought you said you were good with those picks,' McKay hissed, checking her watch. _11 minutes left. _

'Hey, from what I know, this door hasn't been opened since the year I was born, McKay. What'd they do, solder the lock together? Jesus,' he complained. Will knew himself to be a master lock breaker, but this one was being exponentially difficult.

Will was currently crouched down in front of said lock, cursing as he jimmied the picks under the different hammers of the lock. McKay was currently standing at the end of the short hallway leading to the door, peeking around the corner to keep her eyes on the elevator, but stopping every so often to look back at her partner. After several more attempts, Will heard a satisfying click that told him he could turn the picks, which he did, springing the lock open.

Silently, he celebrated his victory by giving McKay a boyish grin.

'Tell me that doesn't turn you on,' he teased as he stood, turning the handle and pushing open the door. She simply rolled her eyes and walked forward.

Initially, at first glance, all the partners could see was dust floating in between bouts of light from both the hallway and the boarded windows. Will turned towards the wall and searched for a switch, which he found. He was surprised that as he flicked it, lights fluttered on. _No need for the emergency flashlight I brought, then._ What the light had revealed was utter chaos.

On the walls still hung clippings, though he couldn't see their content after being coated in dust. There were papers everywhere, and many of the filing cabinets had been overturned, manila folders littering the ground. On the wall, he noticed, there seemed to be something missing. Though the office had been untouched for many years, he noticed there was a big rectangular patch on the wall that was lighter in colour. Something like a poster or a painting could have been hung there, once upon a time.

Sidestepping the mass of paper, Will walked over to the bigger desk in the middle of the crowded room. A nameplate rested atop it, and after he rubbed at it, he could see it read _Fox Mulder_.

'What is this place, Kamp?' McKay asked from behind him, taking everything in.

'I'm not quite sure I know, McKay. Harrison told me a little bit about this place, but I didn't want to believe it was the truth. Said something about the paranormal and I think I'm starting to believe him, as crazy as that sounds,' he said, scanning the room.

'Yeah, well, half the things that come out of your mouth are crazy, Kamp, so by now I'm sort of used to it,' she muttered sarcastically Her tone changed however. 'This nameplate says _John Doggett. _Who were these people?' She asked, setting the nameplate down again. She was afraid to walk farther into the room like her partner had, afraid that she would step on something.

'I don't know, but Harrison told me that there was also woman who worked here too. A whole tragic love story was involved, too,' Will trailed off, not really paying attention. He stepped closer to the wall covered in what he assumed were newspaper clippings. He brushed the dust off of a photo and saw a triangular black shape floating in the sky above a field of some sort. He turned when he heard McKay curse. 'What?'

'Shit, Kamp, we've only got one min-' she started to say, but was cut off.

'It seems agents, that your time is up.'

Clare turned around, bewildered. 'Jamie?' She called, recognizing her boyfriend. James Davenport walked further into the room, the dim lights illuminating his face. 'Jesus, you scared me. What are you doing down here?' She asked. His expression was not one of softness for his girlfriend, however. He was looking quite intently at Will, who was holding up his end of the glaring match.

'You going to rat me out to Skinner this time, too, Davenport?' Will sneered. His suspicions that the other agent was behind his meeting with Skinner had been confirmed, and it pissed him off to no end. He could see that Clare was confused by his comment, but he didn't care to elaborate.

'Too late, actually. He's already on his way,' Davenport said, smirking. Clare's jaw dropped and she crossed her arms.

'Are you serious? Are you trying to get us suspended?' She exclaimed, surprised beyond belief by his behaviour. She knew he and her partner harboured strong feelings of hate for each other, but she never thought she be dragged into the middle of it. He didn't respond to her question and she brushed past him, knocking him in the shoulder for added effect. She was pissed, Will could see it. Rightfully so, however.

'Thought you were safe sneaking around, huh, Van de Kamp?' The other agent taunted. Will's temper was rising and his patience was dwindling fast.

'I didn't think you had it in you, ratting out your girlfriend to her superiors. That's a new low, isn't it?' Will said, matching Davenport's condescending tone.

'She'll get over it. Clare will just have to_ learn_ to stop sneaking around with a no good partner and to stop getting into trouble,' he said, and Will lost it.

He flew at Davenport, and Will's fist connected satisfyingly with the side of his jaw.

'Kamp!' McKay shouted.

By this point Will had slammed Davenport against the wall, holding him up by the collar.

'What have you got against me, you son of a bitch?' He screamed into the other man's face. Davenport wasn't fighting back, which frustrated Will to no end. He didn't like one sided fights, and so he slammed the other agent against the wall one more time for good measure. 'Huh, what have I done?'

'Oh you have _no _idea,' Davenport chuckled, which earned him another slam.

'Kamp!' She repeated, but he couldn't hear her. All he could see was red. 'Dammit, Will!'

'_Agent Van de Kamp_, I suggest that you let go of Agent Davenport. _Now._' Skinner's gruff voice rang out and Will took one last, good, hard look into Davenport's eyes before pushing him against the wall again and backing away. 'Now that all of this is done, can we ride up to my office without breaking each other's necks?' Skinner pressed and Will found himself nodding his head mechanically. 'Agents?' He repeated.

'Yes, sir.' Will bit out.

They walked out of the office and Will heard Skinner close the door and lock it again.

Upon entering the elevator, Will took notice of the fact that Clare refused to stand beside Davenport, instead further into the elevator where Will stood. He took that as a small victory on his side. When Skinner and Davenport's backs were turned, Clare took her hand and laid it on Will's arm, squeezing it and quickly letting go.

He could see she was obviously upset, but now he was able to ascertain she was more hurt by _Jamie_'s actions than his own. He looked down at her and gave her a slow nod as their ascent began.

* * *

Okay, that's three. I don't remember if Scully ever put Mulder's nameplate back on his desk after she was off mat-leave, but I like to think she did. Oh boy, but Will's got a temper on him, doesn't he? Let me know what you think!


	4. Chapter 4: Answers

Alright, kids, here's three. I've got a lot of inspiration, lately. Don't expect the same outcome in the future. And don't worry about Skinner, he's on our team. That is if you are team Will, and if you aren't then what story are you reading?. This chapter may read like a filler, but I tried my hardest not to make is short and sweet. LOVE ME. Also, McKay doesn't really say a lot in this chapter. My bb's got a bruised heart.

I own nothing but that of my own creation. Sigh.

* * *

_Chapter Four - Answers_

'Now, agents, I'd like to stay ignorant and ask what the hell you were doing down there, but I think I already know.' Skinner started, sitting menacingly behind his desk. 'Agent Van de Kamp, did I not express that you were not to go anywhere near that office?' He asked, somewhat rhetorically. He looked up at Will with an expression of annoyance, obviously pissed that he would disregard the clear warning. It almost felt nostalgic for Skinner, though the agents in front of him wouldn't know why.

'Sir, I apologize for my actions, my curiosity got the better of me. However, this is no fault of Agent McKay's. I tricked her into being my accomplice, which she didn't want to be in the first place.' Clare had started to interrupt, but Will cut her off and continued. 'If punishment is to be doled out, I take full responsibility for my actions. And the actions of Agent McKay.'

'Sir, I beg to differ,' Davenport said. He had been sitting behind the two agents, on a couch. Skinner thought that would be safer than having him in close proximity to Will after the episode in the basement. 'I was walking by Agent McKay's desk during their conversation and he only had to ask before she gave in.' Will could hear the bite in his tone, and he had to fight the urge to smile. Though he might not be able to win over the Director, he'd have a better chance of getting McKay on his side after Davenport's actions. 'That's how I knew to tell you they were snooping around in that office.'

'Thank you, Agent Davenport,' Skinner sighed. 'You've been of great help, however, I see no reason for you to stay in this meeting.' Davenport started to protest, but Skinner put his hand up. 'And since you are so keen to please, Agent, tell my secretary to hold my calls, I'll be talking to Agents Van de Kamp and McKay for a while.' Davenport scowled and nodded, exiting the DD's office. Will almost laughed at the force behind the way he closed the door. 'Does this situation seem funny to you, Agent Van de Kamp?' Skinner snapped.

Will straightened, both his posture and his face. 'No sir.'

'Good. Now, I'd appreciate if I could go to work every single day and not have to worry about my agents getting involved with things they shouldn't. You've proven, however, that I cannot do that.' Skinner sighed, removed his glasses, and rubbed at his eyes tiredly. He was too old for this job and he knew it. 'Agent McKay, you've been awfully quiet.'

'I apologize, sir, I've had nothing to say that my partner hasn't already said,' she said blankly. She was hurt, quite frankly, and was lost inside her mind. 'I do wish to express that I will not let Ka-Agent Van de Kamp take full responsibility for me. As Agent Davenport said, I was not coerced into it. I knew what I was doing the moment I agreed. However, sir, we had not wanted to cause distress. I thought that giving Agent Van de Kamp the quick distraction would allow him to have a fresh mind for our current difficult case. We only planned to look behind the door and return to our desks.' Will turned to look at her, but she stared straight at Skinner, her chin perked up in defensive way.

He turned back to Skinner, who was contemplating McKay's words.

'That's an interesting way to view it, agent. Maybe that means that at this moment you and Agent Van de Kamp are of no help to your investigation?' Skinner asked and McKay's face fell. She tried to reply and defend herself again, but Skinner stopped her. He seemed to have to stop a lot of people from speaking out these days. 'I think it would do the two of you some good to have some time off, away from the case.'

'I'm not sure Agent Graham and Stonewall would appreciate that, sir,' Will said. 'They have always said that they appreciate as many hands as they can get.' He knew his argument was futile, but it couldn't have hurt.

'While I'm sure that's true, Agent Van de Kamp, there's no doubt in my mind that the two of you won't be missed.' Skinner sat up straighter and pulled out two pieces of paper from inside his desk. 'I'm putting the both of you on a two week suspension. While you may still have access to the building, I'd like you to relinquish your guns and badges.' He began to fill the forms out.

'But sir-' Will started.

'Agent, please do not make this any harder, I'm a very busy man.' Skinner said, staring pointedly at the two of them.

McKay gave in easier than he did, detaching her gun holster from her belt and placing it on the desk, along with her badge. Will begrudgingly did the same, placing them less gently than his partner did.

'What do you suggest we do on our time off, sir?' Will asked bitterly.

'I _suggest_ that you catch up on the paperwork I'm sure you have.' Skinner said, the annoyance shining through in his voice.

Will bit his cheek to keep himself from retaliating. He considered Skinner's words for a moment, and then a thought sprang to his mind.

'Sir, I have a request.' Skinner sighed, cocking an eyebrow at him. McKay also looked at him, intrigued. 'The office in the basement, it was in quite a disarray.'

'I fail to see your point.'

'What I'm requesting, is that during my suspension, you allow me to maybe...clean up that office? I honestly would have nothing better to do than pack all of it into boxes for the FBI to do what they wished with.' Will knew the idea was ludicrous, that Skinner would never accept it in a million years, but he was batting blind, praying for a good answer.

_Kamp, you are one ballsy son of a bitch, _McKay thought.

Skinner looked at him like he'd gone off his rocker. Then he leaned back in his chair and thought about it.

Walter Skinner knew who the agent in front of him was. He knew his past and where he came from. Hell, he'd almost smiled when he saw that Will had been accepted into Quantico. He knew that many of Will's mannerisms came from the parents who raised him, but he'd be blind if he didn't see his birth parents in his appearance and personality. Skinner also wondered what the damage would be, if Will connected the dots he would see in the files downstairs. He wondered if Will would look at the truth and back away.

He'd protected this boy, now man, for so long, that maybe it was time to let him go. To have him learn the secrets of his birth and of his parents.

Sighing, he leaned forward again and looked Will straight in the eye.

'I have no idea why I'm doing this, but I'll allow it,' he said.

'What?' McKay asked, completely surprised.

'I'm allowing both you, if you'd like the _honour_, and Agent Van de Kamp, to sort and clean the office in the basement. Pack it away, agents. There are too many ghosts in that office for the FBI to hold onto.' He pulled out a single key from his desk drawer and handed it to Will. 'That'll be all, agents.'

As they exited Skinner's office, Will saw Davenport leaning against the wall. As he stalked towards Clare, Will guided her in the other direction with a hand on the small of her back. Davenport called her name a few times, but she only looked down, letting Will lead her to the elevator. When the doors closed she whispered a small thanks. He looked down at her defeated posture and touched her arm just like she had earlier, and she gave a soft chuckle.

'Would you actually like to help me in my endeavour in getting that office clean, Clare?' He asked quietly, using her actual name instead of the nickname he was ever so fond of. He could see her purse her lips in contemplation, and when she looked at him, he could see her brown eyes were brimming with tears.

'Yeah,' she finally said. 'I think I'd like that.'

Will smiled as their descent began.

* * *

Will looked around the office, taking in all the papers and folders littering the floor, the immense amount of dust covering every surface, and all the things tacked on the wall. He wondered where the hell he should start. Clare was currently leaning against the small desk near the door, staring at him.

'Well, if this place needs anything, it needs a good dusting,' she said, wiping a finger across the desk. She herself had dusted it off before deciding to sit against it, and she wrinkled her nose at the grime that covered her finger. 'What are you hoping to find in here, Kamp?'

'I'm not looking to _find _anything, McKay, I'm just curious at what these agents were looking into for nine years,' he replied. 'I want to know if Harrison was telling the truth for once, and if he is, I'm going to give him a medal.' She asked for the longer version of Harrison's tale, which Will relayed. She laughed a bit, which was a good sign after the day she'd had.

'If you wanted to find a love story like that all you have to do is read a mystery drama, Kamp. No doubt there's a series out there somewhere for it,' she joked. 'And besides, you've got nothing cleaning wise with you today, so maybe we should start tomorrow or the day after. Give yourself a day to breathe, Will, it'll be good for you.' He knew she was probably referring to him almost beating the shit out of Davenport, and he grimaced. Will wasn't proud of his temper tantrums (for lack of a better word), but thankfully they didn't happen frequently.

'You're probably right. You want to grab dinner?' He asked, extending the invitation as a form of comfort.

'No, I think I just like to go home,' she sighed. And then she groaned, and Will saw a flicker of sadness cross her face again. 'I don't have my car with me,' _Jamie drove me today, _she added silently.

'Say no more, my friend. I just have to grab a few things from my desk and we can head out,' he told her. She walked out of the office as he flicked off the lights, closed and locked the door.

He drove her to her apartment in silence and he only pulled away after he watched her dejectedly trudge her way up the steps of her building.

His mind flew back to the basement office, but he stopped himself.

_Tomorrow_, he thought. _Tomorrow._

* * *

Alright, so that was bloody hard to write. If you think Clare's like sappy sadness is OOC, it's not. She's got a really strong exterior, but once you get inside of her brain you want to cry. She's got a past, too. Send me a little message, lovelies.


	5. Chapter 5: Memories

Alrighty, so here's five. I've gotten comments on how people can see that Clare's got some Scully-esque qualities to her, and while that's true, I'm trying to write Clare as more open with her emotions (she's sort of an open book), that's why she was so upset about Jamie. She's got issues, my friends. Anywho, thanks for sticking with me. Enjoy some X-Files goodies in this chapter. This was really fucking hard to write so I apologize if it's painful to read. Also sorry about the delay.

I own nothing and it sucks.

* * *

_Chapter Five - Memories_

While it had not been the next day that he started work in the basement office like he planned, he had realized the day after that the break had been beneficial for Will to catch up on sleep. The agent spent some time cleaning his apartment, restocking his meager fridge, and then calling his parents, which he hadn't done in a while. His dad had thrown his back out doing extensive farm work, and was currently spending his time on the couch watching football, to which he went on about to his son. Will tried his hardest to pay attention, but if he was honest he hated football. He hated it, but he never had the heart to tell his father that. The worst part was that he was good at it, and so he spent his high school years as the running back for his high school in Wyoming.

He'd gotten several offers for football scholarships, as well as a number of academic ones, and he had opted to use the academic scholarships to further himself in medicine and forensics. He knew his father would have preferred for him to play football and be a legacy, but Will was content with his job at the FBI, and his father supported that. His mother tended to worry about him, not only because he was a field agent and that implied possible violence, but also because she knew Will had a nasty temper and had episodes in the past. His attack on Davenport had been similar to his other violent outbursts.

After spending half an hour on the phone with each parent, Will had felt better.

The next day he woke the same time he usually would for work and actually had a decent breakfast for once, instead of downing a coffee and running out the door. He then called Clare to see if she was awake and ready to help him.

'Kamp,' she said drowsily, 'if you do not show up at my door with a steaming coffee and a a warm bagel, our partnership is over.' He laughed and promised that he would. The fact that she was acting a little playful suggested that she was feeling a bit better than she had two nights ago when he dropped her off at home.

He dressed in a pair of jeans and one of his many FBI tees, knowing that if he wore his usual suit it would just get covered in dust. Will stopped at a simple coffee shop and picked up two coffees, Clare's bagel, picking up a simple danish for himself. He arrived at her apartment ten minutes later and found her standing on the stoop waiting.

She was dressed in the same manner that he was, except instead she was wearing a simple sweater. She looked nice, he thought. Though he did always enjoy her fitted skirts and blazers, he liked her like this: casual, relaxed. She got into his car and smiled at the smell of her beverage. As she sipped it, he pulled out and began their drive to the Hoover building.

'Congratulations, Kamp, you passed the test,' she said, warming her hands on the paper cup.

'Well, I always do aim to please, McKay.' She rolled her eyes.

While Clare would admit that she was still feeling better than she did after Jamie's...betrayal, for lack of a simpler term, she was still hurt by it all. She hoped that her partner wouldn't bring it up however, instead using sarcasm and humour to cover up her inner feelings. It was her way of coping.

After checking in at the metal detectors, the agents didn't begin their usual ascent to their floor, instead descending to the basement levels. Some agents did a double take at their casual dress and lack of gun clips, but the partners paid no heed to their looks. It wasn't a secret the two were now on suspension, and Harrison had called Will the night before to give him kudos on almost beating the ever-loving crap out of Davenport. No doubt Will and Clare would be the talk of the water coolers for the next two weeks. Will could only imagine what the agent would spin about he and his partner. That stood out as the only reason Will regretted attacking Davenport; that the whole bureau might suspect there was something going on between Clare and him, or that he had some sort of jealous rage concerning the whole situation.

As they entered the basement and Will pulled out the key to the office, he noticed that the hallway leading up to it that had previously been unlit, was now illuminated with fluorescent lighting like the others. He almost smiled at that. He opened the office door for his partner, allowing her to enter first and switch on the overhead lights, which were still old and gave the room a dim atmosphere.

In the middle of the floor, where papers _weren't _strewn around, were several file boxes, and even a little bucket with cleaning supplies. Will laughed. Skinner might as well have gift wrapped it for him.

'Well, it looks like someone was thinking of us, McKay,' he said to her, smirking as he did.

'Yes, aren't we so popular and well loved.' He openly laughed and turned again to the mess before them. Will pulled out a duster from the bucket and looked at McKay, using his big blue eyes to persuade her to take on that role. 'Just give me the fucking duster, Kamp.' She said, yanking it out of his hands. He was afraid that she might actually be pissed off at her until she turned around with a grin on her face.

While his partner busied herself with dusting mainly the walls, so that she could see what the clippings and photos displayed, Will looked at all the files that were all over the floor, and he just sat down on the floor and started to collect them. While most of the loose papers were bills and travel accounts, which he simply placed in a box to be sorted or thrown out, the papers he found that looked liked they pertained to cases, he set aside in another box. Many of them bore the signature of Fox Mulder, some dating back to the early nineties, who he assumed was the SAC of the office. He chuckled a little at the name, he couldn't help it. McKay turned around and raised an eyebrow.

'I want to meet this Fox Mulder and ask him who decided to name him that, it's such a ridiculous name,' he explained, and she sighed, turning back to her work. _  
_

'Yeah, well my middle name's Siobhan, and people tend to say it the way it's spelled, not the Gaelic pronunciation and then they tell me it's ridiculous, so I sort of sympathize with the guy,' she said.

'My name's William John, I think it would be pretty hard to mispronounce that.' McKay hummed and continued on what she was doing.

When most of the loose papers were taken care of, and William was actually starting to find case files, he picked up a thick stack of paper held together with two butterfly clips. The front read: _Einstein's Twin Paradox: A New Interpretation, Dana Scully's Senior Thesis_. He only bothered to read the first few paragraphs, it was a very interesting and well written thesis. He put that in the 'other' pile.

It wasn't until Will got around 1992 that he started to see her name reappear again and again. Dana Scully. She must have been the women Harrison mentioned, Mulder's partner and possible lover. The story read like a two dollar romance novel.

Will planned to read the files after he had sorted everything by date, but he found himself stopping every once and a while to read case reports and look at once-glossy photos of evidence and crime scenes. Harrison hadn't been lying when he said they investigated the paranormal; Will so far had found cases involving shape-shifters, a man that could stretch every part of his body, the idea that a man could come back to life in another body, and countless other phenomenon.

Occasionally, he'd read something aloud to McKay, and she'd snicker at the atrocity of the files, and in turn she'd read me lines from the newspaper clippings lining the walls, or try and decipher what some of the images depicted. There were also many different bits and baubles placed around the room, and she'd pick them up and examine them.

There also seemed to be an array of pencils littering the floor, and Will wondered where they all spilled from. It seemed to Will that there were many unexplainable things about this office, not just its files and purpose, but the things inside of it as well.

When it reached around five o'clock, the two agents silently agreed that it would do them some good to go home. Will locked up the office, deciding to take home the thesis paper to finish reading.

* * *

When he sat down at this computer, Will brought up theb FBI search database to see if he could find any information on the two agents. The thesis paper sat beside him, thoroughly read and appreciated. Will wished he could have met this Scully and complemented her on rewriting fucking _Einstein_. She was smart.

When he typed in 'Fox Mulder,' he was met with not only an agent profile depicting a man that was all jaw, cheekbones, and nose. He had expected a skiddish, gangly guy you would normally find researching the paranormal, but no. He was also quite smart, Will acertained after reading his list of educationary feats. Accompanying the profile was a Most Wanted notice. It seemed Harrison was telling the truth about these _rogue agents_. He read the online report and found that Mulder had killed a military official, and had escaped from military prison with help from his partner. There was also a section that stated that although charges were dropped, he was still considered a danger to the FBI, which Will found extremely curious.

After his fair share of Fox Mulder, Will entered 'Dana Scully' into the server. Unlike her partner, she infact did not have a Most Wanted notice. The first thing Will notcied was that she was attractive, although the picture was dated from 2001, he could appreciate her features. Her profile was just as interesting, and he found that she had her M.D. which was impressive. Her career path was actually quite similar to Will's, except he doubted that he would quit the FBI and become an actual doctor.

He wondered if she was still practicing, and he tried to search for her hospital, which he did end up finding. She was actually pretty close, just in West Virginia. He could easily drive there with his own car and spare the FBI expense. Will decided to take a drive over there possibly tomorrow, and he wondered if Kamp would be interested.

Shutting down his computer, he yawned and entered his bedroom. It was almost past midnight an he was surprised that he stayed up that late. With no serial killers to catch, Will found himself taking more time to do things. He decided to push that thought away and sleep, though.

* * *

ugh I know it's horrible but please review anyway.


	6. Chapter 6: Mysteries

Lordy. Alright, it has been a long summer of not writing this fanfic. I've been writing too many oneshots, sorry lovelies. I wrote another POTO/LND one in August that is still going through some editing. But I'll try to focus on this one for now because I do want to finish it with all my heart. When we left off, Kamp had just searched up Mulder and Scully on the FBI database, so he knows about their "crimes" and even where Scully works. Alright, let's get on with it then. This chappy is full of secrets. You know the story but Will's got to see it through his own eyes. Oh, and I sort of forgot about the fact that in the finale the X-Files office had been wiped clean, so for all intents and purposes we're going assume they just trashed the shit out of the place. Or that They dumped the files back in the office once M&S were on the run for good. Enjoy.

* * *

_Chapter Six - Mysteries_

The duo had spent a couple more days cleaning through the office, chronologically sorting files, and packing things in boxes to be stored. Will had a suspicion that Skinner wanted them burned more than he wanted them categorized neatly. Skinner knew about the answers the basement office held and Will's brain turned everyday trying to figure out his connection to the agents. Will had noticed that his signatures were on some of the files that he may have helped to investigate, but in the later years it switched over to a man by the name of Kersch.

He'd also noticed that for a short amount of time - there were only about four case files - there were two different agents that he didn't recognize as part of Harrison's narrative, and it left Will wondering where they fit into everything. He recognized the woman's name vaguely, only because she was in some of the earliest cases that the X-Files had investigated, then she just disappeared. Diana Fowley had been her name, and her brief partner had been named Jeffrey Spender.

He'd noticed McKay starting to warm up to him again these past few days as he read aloud different case reports, her quiet chuckles sticking in his head. She had taken on the duty of pulling the various clippings - multiple layers - off the walls, sorting them into categories like pictures, news articles, and evidence photos (or what she thought to be evidence photos). Some of the news articles had made her sigh and shake her head - either from the ridiculousness or the gruesomeness. She too would give him some examples of the paranormal and he'd raise his eyebrows and laugh.

There were many things that had baffled Will about this office, some he would probably never find the answers to, and some that came all too easily, but one in particular was bothering him. He knew that it made sense that some files could be missing due to misuse over the years, but in some files he kept finding the phrase _'refer to file' _and then it would string off a case number, always the same one. He'd yet to come across it, but had made a list of all the ones that were linked.

_Duane Barry, Donnie Pfaster, Tooms, _and a couple others. He'd noticed that mostly all of those cases pertained directly to Agent Scully, and so he was suspicious that this missing files was hers. Knowing what shady people conspirators were, she had probably hidden that file in the Marianas Trench. He wouldn't be surprised if Mulder himself had a file, after hearing and reading what kind of a crazy he was. She had to be wacked too if she had stayed on this project for so long after all the things that had happened to her. He'd read those files in depth, and they were all written by Mulder in his cursive scrawl. He knew case files were supposed to be subjective, but it was almost as if he could hear the pain Mulder's writing betrayed when he read the words that were outlined in pencil.

He could tell that the man loved her early on, but her writing did not project the same voice that his did. She was calculated, scientific, and headstrong. Her reports were almost flawless, the flaw being that some were left open ended considering the circumstances. It wasn't until cases that talked of a man named Absalom that Scully changed. Reading the files felt like reading a diary, as if he was almost breaching some sort of privacy between the two partners. He soon learned that Mulder had been kidnapped - or abducted, as Scully liked to write - and he had gone missing for some time. He couldn't find the conclusion of that case, and so he stored it in the back of his mind.

'Shit.' He heard McKay say as a pile of clippings feel behind a desk. She tried to move it, and then looked to him for help. He merely smiled and came over, assisting her to move it to a clear spot. Once she had picked up the dropped papers, she noticed marks on the wall. It looked like someone had made a hole and covered it back up with plaster and drywall. It was like a little mouse hole, low to the ground.

'Kamp...there's something behind this wall.' She said curiously.

'I'm sorry?'

'There's plaster on this wall, covering a big space.' He looked at her like he was crazy. 'Kamp, I had a boyfriend who was a contractor. They wouldn't have just covered the wall up without sanding and repainting it. This was done by an amateur, and I bet that there could be something back there. Get me a hammer.'

'Okay...' He trailed off, left, and came back a few minutes later with her request.

'Jesus!' He exclaimed as McKay did not hesitate in bashing into the wall, and Will said a silent hello to Skinner, knowing that there were security cameras watching them. Destroying government property probably wasn't their best option at the moment. 'Someone's going to kill us for this, I just know it. What the hell do you think could even be in there?'

'Hell, I don't know, Kamp. Maybe where Elvis is hiding out. With the amount of space in this wall, JFK's killer could be hidden in here for all we know. I'm just curious.' She smiled at him and he complied. How could he resist that dazzling grin? He watched her pull away bits of the drywall until the hole was big enough for both her hands to go through. 'Pray for me.' She said as she stuck one in.

Instead of praying, Will swore to God, if she pulled anything he'd probably kill her. She had a face of concentration on as she looted around in there, a flashlight appearing in her other hand. He still believed she was crazy, but he let her have her fun.

'Hey, don't give me that sour face. I stood by while you picked the lo - oh!' She looked up at him devilishly. 'Kamp, I think I've got something.'

When her hand emerged from the wall, covered in white dust and what looked like cobwebs, she was holding in her hands a black book. It wasn't bound like a novel or textbook - no, it was leather bound and thin. Blowing dust off it, McKay opened the pages to find handwriting. The book (journal) was full of text. Twenty or so pages in, the penmanship changed, but Will recognized both immediately.

'Holy shit, McKay. Agents Mulder and Scully. This belongs to them.'

* * *

The two agents had been staring at the black book for quite some time as it rested atop the desk it had once been guarded by. They both wanted to read it, there was no doubt of that, but they couldn't bring themselves too. Kamp had already read Mulder and Scully's FBI chronicles, but this, this book was something he probably should not be looking at. He recognized that the first part of the book started off with Scully's handwriting, and the word _cancer _had stuck out to him.

The rest had been overshadowed by Mulder, filling 80 or so pages of his own writing.

'Will, we can't just sit here all day staring at a book. We have to do something about it.' Clare said to him quietly, her hand resting under her chin.

'I know, Clare, I know.' He paused. 'It seems wrong, somehow. I can't bring myself to read it. What if it wasn't for other people, what if it was just for them?' _What if what if what if what if_. 'They were people once. Maybe they still are.'

'Yes, but what if the answers are in there? Maybe this is the actual truth to this place.' The last phrase was whispered, and Will nodded, understanding what she really meant. They stood there for a few more moments, and then left the book on the desk, going back to their original work.

Despite the amount of garbage and files that had littered the office a couple days ago, Will and Clare were able to storm through it quickly, and when they had finished for the day, all that they needed to do had been accomplished at least file wise. There was still the fact that there were books and other things that probably needed packing away as well.

At some point last night, someone had left a box trolley for them, a way of easily transporting them to evidence, and Will piled his and McKay's findings onto it.

'What do you think they'll do with this place once were actually done?' He asked.

'Maybe set up a new office, or turn it into a maintenance closet like Skinner originally told us it was.' She looked at the now almost-barren office and smiled sadly. 'So many memories here, Kamp. A lot can happen in ten years.' She looked up at him. 'Kamp, do you ever think about the future?'

'Well, you've already asked me about having kids. I look into the future, I see the FBI, possibly a nicer apartment, maybe a girlfriend - but I don't know if that's what I want.' He looked deep into her eyes. 'I also see you, McKay. Maybe we've moved up a bit in the ranks, running a few big investigations, but I still see you as my partner. I wouldn't ask for anyone else.' She smiled serenely.

'Well, Kamp, I don't think anyone else would have you if it weren't for me.' He chuckled and socked her in the arm, to which she retaliated.

He caught sight of the journal again and looked hard at it. 'What should we do with it?' Will asked.

'Take it home, Will. I know you want to read it. Maybe we'll get to know them more if you do.' He nodded.

* * *

Will had arrived home and ate, the black book sitting on his coffee table, waiting for him. He sighed and sat down.

As he read the first part, written by Scully to Mulder, he felt the overwhelming sense of sadness she seemed to convey. She had been terminally ill with cancer, he learned, and maybe he thought this was her last condolences to him. Noting the date however, she must have gone into remission because it was before the crime her and Mulder had committed, some years before.

It had been six o'clock when he had started with Scully's part, and by eight he was on to Mulder's. The way he wrote it was strange. While on occasion he had brought it back to her, as sort of side notes, it mostly was Mulder rambling. It sounded like an apology letter. Another death correspondence.

_I remember the early days, the days when you were unable to believe - afraid, as you put it - and I remember wanting to show you these possibilities, to open you up to my world. I don't think I ever believed that you were going to rat me out to Blevins, to Skinner, to Kersch, or anyone, but back then I was too territorial to see that. I miss you Scully. This journey has been hard without you, your smooth calculating voice. I often think of you, even if I can't picture what you'd be doing. I wonder how the X-Files has changed with Doggett and Reyes. If you ever see the Gunmen, tell them to see the sun once and a while. _

Who the 'Gunmen' were, Will did not know.

_I didn't find what I hoped to in the time that I've been gone. I feel like I've failed you in some way, Scully, that maybe you would have been better going and searching for things. Taking our son away and living somewhere new. Somewhere safe. Promise that he'll never know what we've done, Scully, and what they've done to us. The knowledge will poison him and endanger him, and as broken souls already, we can't do that to our son. Tell him that I was a good man. That I saved people. Don't tell him I killed them too. _

Will sat back for a minute and digested that section. _They had a son? _It was nowhere in any database that Scully had given birth, but he conceded that maybe only a hospital record would show that. Later on was when real truths began to surface.

_I told you in that dingy motel room what happened to her. Samantha. I don't think you'll ever forget those words, hell, you probably know them by memory. I often talked about searching for her, Scully, and I promise you that this quest of mine isn't about Samantha. I know she's dead. The Mulders are dead and buried and that is where it should stay. There are days when I want to abandon everything and come home to you, to our son. To forget the wrongs the government has done us, and that there were never any viruses that made you succumb to their will. I mourn Billy Miles, to have the chance to a life, and then forced to be a killing machine._

_Maybe someday I'll send Reyes a medal for what she did that night. For protecting you from the soldiers. Maybe I'll let you give Doggett a kiss for getting me that helicopter. You were so beautiful, Scully. He was too. I know I was horrible after I came back. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything. Maybe I should have said it out loud a bit more. I don't really know what I hoped to accomplish with this. I don't think I even want you to read it, like you didn't want me to read your entries from your cancer days. Fragility and beauty can go hand in hand sometimes, Scully, and that was you. Trust Dana Scully to be the most beautiful thing on her deathbed. To this day I don't know if it was God or that chip that saved you, but sometimes I hope it was a little of both, a little way that the world is proving both of our centers of faith. _

Will was too invested in the writing, but every once and a while he'd jot down something on a notepad, especially the chip, the soldiers, and Billy Miles.

_Give Skinner a pat on his shiny bald head for me. Tell him to retire or do something less stressful. Lord knows he doesn't need another pair of us on his hands. Maybe he'd be better off in the marines. I know he misses it. I only met your dad once, but I think he would've like Skinner. I know he didn't like me. _

He read the whole thing in one night, staying up into the wee hours of the morning just to finish, a notepad full of notes. He had known that Skinner was connected to the agents in some shape or form. Reaching the last page, he could tell the writing had become insistent, almost illegible, as if Mulder couldn't handle what he was writing.

_I know you buried me once Scully, and I'd hate for you to have to do that again, but I think I'm going to die tomorrow. I'm going down swinging, my ever present boyish agility showing, and I just wanted you to know that you were everything I needed. One in five billion, Scully. _

* * *

__okay so that's the chapter for you. I'm a sappy son of a bitch, I know.


	7. Chapter 7: Old Friends

Okay so fun story, I lost my chapter plans, so I wrote chappy 6 without plans and then when I found my plans I had to rewrite the whole rest of the story. But it turned out really nicely and a lot less horrible than what I had originally planned. Also a little more badass moments might happen in the future. I'll leave you with that. Enjoy this chappy. Shit starts to get real. Give Clare a little slack after this, okay? She gots dem issues.

I own nothing, I don't know if I mentioned that.

* * *

_Chapter Six - Old Friends _

The office was dark as the director stared out the window into the black night.

'Are you sure you know what you're doing, Walt?' A rough New York accent rang out, disrupting the previous silence. 'I mean, is it wise to let this kid continue?'

'John, I've watched over him for many years now, maybe it's time to let him go. I can't protect him anymore.' Skinner's reply was pained. The years had done things to the now fully gray man. His friend, John Doggett, stood behind him in his office, looking concerned for the older man.

'Don't think this won't hurt her. We shouldn't let the kid dig up old memories and tarnish what Dana's done to not hate herself every day. I don't want the kid screwing that up for her.' He said the last part quietly. Although he was happily married to Monica, who currently in the south of Virginia, he still held a protective fondness for his first partner on the X-Files.

'He's not a kid anymore, John, and I think Dana's realized that.' Skinner paused. 'She's always been the strongest of us all, I'm sure she can handle it.'

* * *

After sleeping off the information the journal had presented, Will woke up to the sun streaming in his bedroom window. Sometimes he regretted picking an apartment facing the sunrise. After downing a cup of coffee, he dressed in his more casual attire that he'd grown accustomed to over the past week and a half. The cleaning of the office had pretty much come to a close, leaving only books to be packed away. He wondered what he and McKay would be doing for the last few days of their 'vacation.' He thought that cleaning his monstrosity of a desk might be a good idea, but that wasn't the most enticing idea. Will didn't have a clue what his partner would do.

Will couldn't shake something out of his mind though. He had an urge itching at his mind the whole morning.

He knew the location of Dr. Scully, as she was properly called now, and since he'd found it he'd been wanting to pay her a visit, to ask her some questions. Now that he'd found their journal, the want to go had grown stronger. There were parts of him that were merely curious in an investigative way, but on the other hand he wanted to return the journal to where it belonged. He wanted her to have it, seeing as it was probably hidden in the wall in hopes that she would find it - put there by Agent Mulder, no doubt. She probably didn't even know about it. Will felt he owed it to her, after spying into her life. She deserved something.

Then again, Will didn't know this woman. Would she want these old memories to resurface? Were her and Mulder even in contact after all these years? Virtually nothing had been heard about the duo since 2008. Maybe they didn't want to be disturbed. Yet, still, Will didn't want to keep the journal. It weighed too heavily on him, and he wasn't going to just pack it up with the rest of the X-Files.

After another coffee, he headed out for his car and drove to the Hoover building. Once he had arrived in the basement office, he found McKay standing inside the small room packing away books. It was early, and yet he noticed she had only half a shelf left.

'How long have you been down here, Clarice?' He asked, astonished.

'Since six.' She confessed. 'I couldn't sleep.' Pausing to sigh, she looked at the rest of the books left. 'Jamie tried to talk to me on the way home last night and it soured my mood. He wants to talk about reassignment or some shit like that. I spent the whole night tossing, thinking.' What she didn't add was that she had spent the wanting to call him , but she'd never done that before. Clare didn't want to push the boundaries of their structured partnership. Late night phone calls seemed intimate to her, something she used to do with Jamie. Sure, Will flirted with her constantly, but still. They were partners, friends even.

Will, on the other hand, had been reading until ridiculous hours, so he would have been awake to answer it. Clare was glad in some ways that she didn't call, though. She was still hurt, and she'd shown too much of her vulnerable side in the last few weeks. She needed to reign it in a little. Often when she was upset she'd become nostalgic and talk about her childhood, a topic she'd never fully breached with her partner, and that was where she wanted it to stay. It was in a file somewhere, but he'd never see it. She made sure of that. Her weekly therapist would have to do for her outlet for now.

Clare shook her head and gave Will a smile, continuing to pack books.

He took the time to load the already packed boxes onto the almost full trolley, and waited for her to finish with the last. When she was all done, Will took a sweeping look around the now barren room.

'It's weird that more than ten years of work here can be cleaned up so fast, eh?' Kamp asked. 'I read the journal, Clare.'

'What were they like?' She murmured the question softly, leaning against the large desk in the middle of the room.

'Very sad but very much in love. They had a son.' He told her, not giving much away. 'They were also very determined, I could hear that in their writing. I think Mulder was going crazy by the last pages, though. He was frantic. His section was just one giant apology letter to her. She wrote about when she had cancer, and it was hard to read. I almost put it down more than once because I thought I was entering into something I shouldn't.'

'Why didn't you? Stop, I mean.'

'I was already in so deep that I thought maybe finishing it would be better than wondering how it ended, like it was a book. I think I've romanticized them a bit though, considering that he killed a man.' Will was still conflicted with how he felt about Mulder. He'd already gathered that he liked Scully. She was realistic, and he like that about her.

She'd written over and over again in her entries that she was going to die. It wasn't written fatalistically, however, just factually. She was a scientist, she knew what the outcome was supposed to be. Obviously, it had turned out different, but that wasn't the point.

'McKay, I never told you this, which I guess I really should have, but I know the location of Agent - or Doctor - Scully. I found it a week ago.' He told her this and her head whipped up, her eyes burning with aggravation.

'What?' She asked incredulously. 'You didn't think to tell me this? The past week you've been moping around talking about how you wondered if they were still out there saving the world or some shit like that, and you knew where she was the whole time?' He didn't have time to respond before she launched into another attack. 'This is fucking rich. As your partner, Will, I expect honesty. I spent this week with you because you wanted closure. I admit I was curious, it's true, but I wasn't down here playing maid because I enjoyed it. I did it for _you_.' She seethed. Will didn't really understand where her anger was coming from, but he soon got that answer. 'This is something I would expect from Jamie, the secretive lying, but not from you, Will.'

He took the hits until she brought up Davenport. That was too much for him.

'Don't you dare say I'm like him, Clare!' He retaliated, moving towards her. 'I didn't think it mattered. Until the journal I was going to forget about her, to leave her to her own little world and let her live her life. I only told you I'd found her thinking that maybe you'd be interested in meeting her. I was going to go and see her today. I didn't expect you to attack me for something that didn't matter. I am nothing like your sorry excuse for a boyfriend, so don't think you can say I am.' She had stood up from her relaxed position, close to his face. These were the days Clare wished she were taller.

'You know what, Kamp? Today Jamie wanted to meet me today to talk about a reassignment. From _you. _I wasn't going to give it a thought because I trust and respect you as a partner, but I don't deserve to be lied to or yelled at. I'm done dealing with shit like this. Maybe your new partner will kiss your ass and worship you, but don't expect it from me.' She plucked her keys from the desk. 'Goodbye, Kamp. Have a great time on your little doctor hunt.' She said it and then stormed out.

* * *

Will did not often think murderous thoughts. Okay, scratch that, he didn't think _detailed _murderous thoughts. Working as a profiler, Will had seen the minds of some twisted killers, and the crime scenes to back it up. He knew how to torture someone with a fork. At the moment, his subject of choice was one James Davenport, and Will was enjoying the mental image of himself gutting the bastard.

Will was currently in his car, driving through Virginia to the voice of a GPS system locating Dr. Scully's hospital. He had a half an hour to go, and it was helping him blow off steam. He was mad. Not only at himself for being a dick to his partner, but at Davenport for planting the idea of reassignment into Clare's head. He didn't like to be compared to lying sacks of shit, so he was slightly more than miffed at this point. It was taking all he had not to swerve off the road into a ditch and let himself die.

He let the drive debrief him though, finally pulling into the lot of Dr. Scully's hospital. It had a rather depressing name, and it looked old from the outside. Inside, he gained the location of Dr. Scully's office, which took him a long elevator ride to find. Eventually, though, he found himself knocking on an open door.

Inside, he was met with the sight of a short and thin woman standing in front of a filing cabinet. When he knocked, she didn't turn, speaking to him while still facing the cabinet.

'Can I help you?' She asked. Her voice wasn't anything imagined. It was clipped and strong.

'Yes. Dr. Scully? My name is Agent - '

'If you're from the FBI, the rest of you are down the hall with the Willows girl. Agent Graham told me to direct any of you that came by.' _Willows girl? Was there a new victim? Why was Agent Graham here and why hadn't I heard anything about it?_ Will noticed when she mentioned the bureau, her tone was sharp, laced with disdain for the institution. _  
_

'Um, no, actually, Dr. Scully, I'm here to see you.' She turned then, facing him fully, one eyebrow quirked over her clear blue eyes. 'After a series of...events, my partner and I were assigned to clear out an office in the basement of the Hoover building, one that I'm sure you're familiar with. We were instructed to sort and box all of the remaining items in the X-Files office, ma'am.' A sour look crossed her face.

'Agent, I haven't set foot in an FBI building in twenty years. I have no desire to look into the X-Files. If you've come for information, you've got the wrong woman.' She sounded tired, and he turned sheepish.

'Actually, Dr. Scully, I'm not here for information. Rather, I'm here because I found something in the office that I thought might interest you.' A quizzical look passed her face, mixed with disbelief at his claim. The whole time, the journal had been tucked at his side, but Will brought it into her view, extending it towards the older woman. Her delicate hand reached out and took it, flipping it open. She obviously recognized her entries, but something passed over her face quickly as she came to Mulder's section.

'Where did you get this?' She said in a hurried whisper.

'It was hidden in the wall of the office. My partner found it. I...I thought you should have it, Dr. Scully. The rest of the items of the office are packed away, but I thought you deserved to have this. I'm sorry if I bothered you.' He said, backing up. Her eyes flicked upward to him, a confused look in the deep blue. She stared at him hard for a couple seconds, and he felt like he was being analyzed by a board member for many of the times he'd screwed up.

Finally, she spoke, only asking him a question.

'What did you say your name was?'

'Van de Kamp, ma'am. William Van de Kamp.'


End file.
